STAR MAN

Elon Musk is the wealthiest man in the world and perhaps the most eccentric, but with his Aussie girlfriend out of sight for months could he also be the loneliest?

-  WILLIAM LANGLEY

 The sun was shining, the sea was blue and as the heady scents of the French Riviera swirled around him, 51-year-old Elon Musk, the world’s richest man, was a picture of contentment. At his side was the new woman in his life, Australian actress Natasha Bassett, whose role in Baz Luhrmann’s Elvis was earning acclaim at the film’s premiere in Cannes.

Given the surreal intensity of Elon’s schedule, his willingness to fly 10,000 kilometres for Natasha’s big moment was seen by the legions of Musk-watchers who track the quirky tycoon’s every move as evidence that he had found love again.

Perhaps he had. The word was that Elon’s mother, Maye, to whom he is exceptionally close, was similarly captivated by the 27-year-old Sydney-born star, and had given her son’s relationship a rare nod of approval.

Or perhaps not. Since the couple’s June appearance on the terrace of Saint Tropez’s super-chic Hôtel Cheval Blanc, they have not been seen together. “We heard that she wanted to concentrate on her career,” says Riviera celebrity journalist Lou Ducreux, who followed the couple on their stay, “and that he came over to show her how much he cared. Maybe it didn’t work.”

Elon, the waxy-haired wonderboy behind the hugely successful Tesla electric car company, and much else, has amassed a fortune of around US$300 billion – more than any human in recorded history – but the astounding wealth conceals a life complicated by fractured family relationships, a chaotic, if wildly creative, mind and a profound fear of loneliness.